WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump signaled a willingness on Wednesday to settle for $500 million a legal fight with Harvard University over $2.5 billion in funding his administration canceled over accusations it allowed antisemitism and promoted diversity policies.   

“Well it’s a lot of money,” Trump told reporters when asked at the White House if $500 million would be enough to make a deal.

The New York Times reported on Monday that the Ivy League institution was open to spending up to that amount to settle the dispute.

“We’re negotiating with Harvard now. They would like to settle, so we’ll see what happens” Trump said.

Harvard sued the administration this year to have billions of dollars of frozen federal funds restored. Trump is at odds with Harvard and other universities over pro-Palestinian protests and diversity, equity and inclusion policies.   

(Reporting by Nandita Bose, Jeff Mason and Maiya Keidan; Editing by Caitlin Webber and Howard Goller)